Don't Just Stand There
Psalm 109
There were times I remember coming in on the middle of a conversation, well, no a strong discussion, well, to be blunt an argument a very close dear friend was having with someone, and as I am standing there wondering even what is this argument about, my friend would look at me and say, Aren't you going to stand up for me? It made me feel like it didn't matter what the argument was about I had to defend them no matter whether they were right or wrong. Yes, of course, my friend deserved to be honored and respected, but before I defended their position, or take a side I wanted to know what was even being discussed.
To him that excelleth. A Psalm of David
Hold not thy tongue, O God of my praise. For the mouth of the wicked, and the mouth full of deceit are opened upon me: they have spoken to me with a lying tongue.
Psalms 109:1-2 GNV
God! Are you just going to stand there? Why don't you say something!!! You DO know whats going on! Let me spell it out to you...
Admit it Richard. We all have times like this. Maybe this isn't a great look at approaching God, waiting patiently on Him to hear and answer prayer. Are all the psalms written in the same format? No. (Well, yes, Psalms 14 and Psalm 53 are quite identical, except that the verse divisions first added in the Geneva Bible are different.) Actually there are many different ways in the Psalms that the cry to God isn't quite like the last one, even from the same writer. It reminds me of what John Eldredge says in his book "Wild At Heart". He asks about wanting to learn from Jesus how to heal the blind. Then he mentions about eight different ways Jesus healed the blind and not even two of them match. God doesn't always respond the same way even if we ask the same question. (See Mark 10:17 and Luke 10:25 - What must I do to inherit eternal life?) If we try to write a formula or algorithm determining "how to call on God in distress" it's not going to happen. But everyone of the ways they are written gives us a new insight into the fact that man calls on God in desparation many different ways, but God is always the same even though He speaks to each individual need in its own way.. He accepts our frustrations and our cries how ever we come to Him, even when our cries both begin and end in despair.
When I ask, "could Jesus have prayed this psalm" I think of so many times we read about Jesus and the opposition He encountered, and even more and more as His ministry continued including direct confrontation from the Pharisees and Jewish leaders as He drew nearer the end. We think, "Oh, he was Jesus. He had no problem handling it." But did He? More frequently He groaned aloud. And then He wept because of unbelief at the tomb of Lazarus, and then again at the triumphal entry. And when the the disciples fought among themselves going up to Jerusalem, and the opposition was narrowing in on Him with more and more challenges especially during those last days daily in the temple, who wouldn't need a different approach for each challenge ahead? Think of it. Jesus didn't only declare His deity when He said , "My Father and I are one." He was declaring His dependency on His Father. His Father physically could not be seen, but even in that in John 14 privately to the disciples He declared that if you have seen me you have seen the Father.
And much the same Jesus didn't say that we are one thing with Him and then something separate when we were apart from Him He did said the branch is integrally dependent on the vine. And that we are dead without Him, without him we can do nothing. The vine is alive and growing and is the source of everything for the branch’s existence by being in the vine. So when we pray, when we call on Him to speak up He is our source that we can trust that by being in Him He will keep us alive and staying alive. We pour out every possible reason as to why we want God to speak out, for His name's sake, for His glory.
Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their confusion, as with a cloke. I will give thanks unto the Lord greatly with my mouth and praise him among the multitude. For he will stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from them that would condemn his soul.
Psalms 109:29-31 GNV
This is our cry to Him. We want God to know our situation. We want Him to speak up for us. We must know that as branches we are in Him, in the vine. We aren't the only ones in Him. There are others whom He will stand by who are in Him, and whom He is bringing to Himself. He will stand by the poor, and He won't just stand there. He will also save the poor from those who would condemn their soul.